“Kanoot empowers emerging under-served communities by manufacturing transportable bio-processors that convert dangerous waste to valuable resources, and by enabling capital development through financing and partnership.”

Kanoot was a semifinalist in the 2014 MIT Clean Energy Prize in the infrastructure and resources track, winning $1,000, and was one of ten teams to receive a judges' panel prize in the 2014 IDEAS Global Challenge competition, winning $5,000. Kanoot also won acceptance into the 2014 CleanTech Open Accelerator which provides the team with a summer’s worth of mentoring and workshops.

Tristan met and connected with each of the other three team members one by one. Anass and Tristan met first, through the Legatum Center program at MIT where they were both Legatum Fellows at the beginning of last year. Joe and Tristan met through the Sloan Christian Fellowship. Doug met Tristan at a team mixer for the Clean Energy Prize (CEP) competition.

They came together around their shared values of using business to address critical needs around the world. They are starting first with engineering bio-processors to convert waste to fuel and fertilizer in the developing world, but their vision is larger and they intend to continually pursue new technologies and ways of building prosperity in under-served communities.

Tristan says that the CEP, helped them to focus and develop their business plan and presentational materials, and to practice their presentation skills. It brought the team together around a short-term goal, and also introduced them to a number of very helpful advisers and other competing teams.

Their biggest obstacle so far has been developing their equipment and doing their primary market research on limited time and a limited budget; however, these challenges help them stay tuned to the real world and pragmatic in their allocations of resources.

In 10 years, Kanoot will be the number one name in small-scale bio-processors and bio-remediation. Their equipment will be spread across Africa and Latin America, processing waste of many types to gas and fertilizer products.

At the moment their team is studying the market, building strategic partnerships, and designing their first market-ready prototype processors to manage slaughterhouse waste in Morocco.

To stay updated on the latest news with Kanoot, visit their website at http://kanoot.co/

“Together, untreated waste and solid cooking fuels cause 3.5 million deaths each year. In addition, our growing population needs more arable land for farming. Kanoot manufactures transportable bio-processors that convert dangerous waste to clean-burning gas and essential fertilizer. The equipment is made available with financing and support, whereas currently such systems are unattainable for those who need them most, a potential market of about 2.6 billion people. Our first point of entry capitalizes on our strong partnerships in Morocco, where over one billion kg of chicken is consumed each year. Initially, we will market our processors to chicken slaughterhouses.”